Friction-hinge.



, `Patented Dec. 2, |902;

F; E. sLoAn.

(Application meg 22222222222 J WAY/Q29 y 1mm mu UNIED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS EUGENE SLOAN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

FRICTloN-HINGE.""`

SPECIFICATION :forming` part of Letters Patent No. 714,959, dated December 2, 1902- Application iiled .Tune 2,7, 1902. Serial No. 113,506. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LFRANcIs EUGENE SLoAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Friction-Hinges, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in friction-hinges, and is designed more especially for supporting mirrors or the like.

In mounting mirrors to swing in supporting-frames a hinge is required which is strong, neat, cheap, and so constructed as to move With sufficient friction to hold the mirror at any desired angle at which it may be set. All hinges heretofore made have required the use of screws for attaching and maintaining the desired friction. In practice the screws are expensive, require time to set, and are liable to become displaced. In my invention the hinge requires the use of no screws. It is seated in slots made in the frame and supports when they are being manufactured, is attached without the use of screws and caunot become detached, and withal maintains the desired amount of friction to hold the mirror at any desired angle.

It is therefore my purpose to construct a pair of resilient pintle-holders having wings and sockets to receive the pintle and seat the wings in undercut slots formed in the two frames. The wings being resilient and the slots being made a trifle smaller than said wings, the latter are confined in the slots and impinge the walls thereof to hold the hinge in position, together with supporting the two frames, without any further or individual fastening devices. The wings are therefore conined and concealed in the slots and the sockets are compressed on the pintle, which creates a desired friction.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a mirror-frame and its support having my improved hinge applied. Fig. 2 is a similar view, but showing the manner of applying the hinge. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the parts separated. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5 5, Fig. l. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of a slight modication of my invention.

The numeral 1 represents a mirror-frame of any welll-known construction, having an undercut slot 2 in its outer edge. The smallest portion of this slot is open on one of the faces of the frame, while its opposite or widest portion is closed.

3 indicates the stationary supporting-frame, which is provided with an undercut slot 4 of exactly the same configuration and size as the slot 2 in the mirror-frame 3. I have shown the slot 4 approximately twice as long as the slot 2, for a purpose which will be hereinafter referred to. While I have shown the slot 4 longer, it is to be understood slot 2 may be thus constructed and the slot 4 made shorter.`

5 and 6 represent a pair of pintle-holders adapted to lit in the slots 2 and 4. Each holder is constructed of resilient material and is bent to form a partially-cylindrical socket 8, with two wings 9 extending outwardly therefrom and at au angle to each other. The holders 6 and 7 are mounted on a pintle 10, and an enlargement 11 thereon prevents the pintle from disengagement with the socket when the parts are positioned.

A hinge thus constructed, the mode of assembling, and the operation are substantially Vas follows: The holders 5 and 6 are slipped are driven along slot 4 until holder 5 enters its slot 2 and its edge is flush with the side of the frame 1. Both holders being driven together, obviously in positioning and alining the one 5 its companion 6 will be like- Wise acted upon, so that, as disclosed in Fig. 1, when the holders are properly adjusted the enlargement also acts as a spacing medium between the two frames to readily permit a free swinging movement of the mirror. The tendency of the Wings 9 to expand when they are confined in the slots creates such frictional resistance between the walls 12 and IOO the wings 9 that any liability of the holders becoming displaced is avoided, and, as has been before stated, such frictional resistance also causes the sockets to bind on the pintle, which will allowof the mirror being adjusted to any desired angle, where it will be maintained. In addition to this adjustment the friction between the parts readily takes up the wear. To disengage the parts, holder 5 is driven out of slot 2 into slot 4 and the mirroi` is removed.

Hinges acted on by springs to maintain certain parts in position is old in the art; but a hinge constructed of spring metal fitting in undercut slots and positively located without the use of auxiliary fastening devices I believe is new with me. Such a structure enables me to fit and swing one frame within another without any liability' of cracking or splitting the latter.

In the modification disclosed in Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown the walls l2a of the slots vertical. The wings 9a in this structure are disposed at right angles to the pintle and are slightly bowed. When the holders are applied, the wings have practically individual bearing-points-that is to say, the outer ends u, bear against the walls of the widest part of the slot, while the bow of the wings, although straightened, bears against the vertical walls, as at b. The frictional grip of the sockets on the pintle is the same as in the preferred form.

What I claim as new is- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a friction-hinge comprising a pair of resilient pintle-holders, each holder being bent to form a cylindrical portion and two wings extending at an angle less than one hundred and eighty degrees from the cylindrical portion, for

adapting the holdersA to be held in dovetailed slots, a piutle having an enlargement, the pintle-holders being mounted on the pintle each side 'of the enlargement, substantially as described.

2. In a friction-hinge, the combination of a pintle, of a pair of pintleholders,each formed of resilient material and bent at its center to form a socket for the pintle, each having two wings extending from the socket portion at an angle less than one hundred and eighty degrees for adapting the wings to be held in undercut slots, two members adapted to be connected by the friction-hinge, the one to be supported by the other, each being provided with an undercut slot, into which the pintleholders are fitted, the pintle-holders being held in place by the wings bearing against the walls of the undercuts of the slots alone, substantially as described.

3. In a friction-hinge, the combination of a pintle, of a pair of pintle-holders, each bent to form a socket for the pintle, each holder having wings, with two members adapted to be connected by the friction-hinge, the one to be supported by the other, each member being provided with a slot into which one of the pintle-holders is fitted, one of said slots being longer than the other to receive both pintle-holders when applying the hinge, the pintle-holders being held in place by the wings impinging the walls of the slots alone, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Baltimore, Maryland, this 26th day of June, 1902.

E. EUGENE sLoAN.

Witnesses:

HOWARD D. ADAMS, GEO. WM. SNYDER, Jr. 

